Living

Living story sections

New Brattleboro Skatepark Promotional Video and Crowdsourcing link – Donating Made Easy!

by scrispe | Recreation & Sports

The Living Memorial Skatepark has its ACT 250 permit and is ready to hopefully break ground in 2017. We just need more contributions. Please donate to this important cause for recreation and youth in Brattleboro. A skate park would be a tremendous asset to our town and region!!

Here is the link to watch the new video and DONATE!

Town Trash Bag Quality?

by rootrunner | Questions & Answers

Just this past week putting out trash in the early morning dark I had the large purple bag split open like a ripe watermelon and no I wasn’t over stuffing or using excessive force. The next time around two weeks later when I had less trash going out, the smaller yellow bag failed me when I went to pull the draw string it just simpley ripped off like a fly away rip cord to no where, so I had to do a quick make shift tie job with what was left of excess plastic bag on the top barely binding enough to tie a simple granny knot, not the best way to start the day.The entire package of yellow bags had the same defect. 

Should I feel like this is just a fluke in the overall  quality of these costly bags or is anyone else out there had a simular experience?

Drive, Walk, and Ride Safely

by cgrotke | Nature

Brattleboro is getting a first dose of real winter weather, and conditions for walking, biking, and driving are poor. Take your time, go a bit slower, and get to your destination safely.

Just this morning I was walking near Western Ave and Cedar and BANG – two cars collided. (Another guy and I were close enough to check on everyone. We also directed traffic for a moment until the police arrived.) Both drivers were safe, but they are both looking at lots of car repair.

If you don’t need to go out, by all means stay in. And watch the forecasts. More snow and rain is expected this week, along with cold temperatures.

VFW Lunch Specials Dec. 5th – 9th

by Not Signed In | Food

The Brattleboro VFW at 40 Black Mountain Road is open to the public for lunch. Lunch is served Mon-Fri from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Specials are only $5.50 a plate. Burgers, fries, onion rings, chicken wings, soups and sandwiches are also available.

Mon – chicken cordon bleu w/ baked potato & veg
Tues – beef stew w/ homemade bread
Wed – chicken marsala w/ mashed potato & roll
Thur – spaghetti w/ homemade meatballs & salad
Fri – crab cakes w/ coleslaw & onion rings

If you have more than 4 people in your group, please call ahead of time at 257-0438. Take out orders are available, and some specials sell out fast.

Bagels and Blocks – A Drop In Playgroup

by BAJC Shir HeHarim | Family

Make new friends while having fun with your child!
Brattleboro Area Jewish Communityis excited to offer a Jewish-based drop-in playgroup for parents/caregivers and their infants and toddlers (0-5 years).

Bagels and Blocks is a facilitated parenting group as well as an activity group for babies and toddlers. These fun and friendly gatherings feature songs, stories, crafts, snacks, and free play.

River Gallery School to Take Artists to Mexico in February

by Not Signed In | Travel

The River Gallery School will take artists in search of inspiration and sunshine to Mexico in February on a tour led by instructor Mary Giammarino. The trip will be based in Oaxaca and run from February 4 to 11, 2017.

In the mornings, the tour will introduce participants to the sights of southern Mexico, with daily instruction in oils, water colors and pastels by the trip’s resident art instructor. Afternoons and evenings will be devoted to exploring the small city’s many galleries, workshops and art museums, not to mention the excellent cuisine.

Brattleboro’s River Gallery School has previously run artist tours to Italy and Spain.

Sock the Homeless! BAJC Winter Sock Drive

by BAJC Shir HeHarim | Activism

Sock a homeless person today! Brattleboro Area Jewish Community is running their first annual sock drive for the homeless this winter. Did you know that socks are the most needed and least donated item to the homeless in the winter months? Many of us don’t take the time to think about homeless people walking all day, but for the most part that is exactly what they do. It’s cold outside. They need socks.

Socks will be given out each month when BAJC serves dinner at the overflow shelter. Socks will be distributed through April of 2017.

VFW Lunch Specials Nov. 28th – Dec. 2nd

by Not Signed In | Food

The Brattleboro VFW at 40 Black Mountain Road is open to the public for lunch. Lunch is served Mon – Fri from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Specials are only $5.50 a plate. Burgers, fries, onions rings, chicken wings, soups and sandwiches are also available.

Mon – liver & onions w/ mashed potato & veg.
Tues – mushroom swiss burger w/ French fries
Wed – cheese tortellini w/ sausage & garlic bread
Thur – stuffed cabbage rolls w/ mashed potato
Fri – salmon burgers w/ onion rings

If you have more than 4 people in your group, please call ahead of time at 257-0438. Take out orders are available, and some specials sell out fast.

BAJC’s Annual Chanukah Party

by BAJC Shir HeHarim | Spiritual

Oy Chanukah, Oy Chanukah!

Please join us for the annual BAJC Chanukah Party on Friday December 23. We will start at 5:00 pm with an hour of story and study; we’ll look at how the story of Chanukah is told in the Books of the Maccabees and after, and what it means to us now in this era of zealotry and intolerance. Then at 6:00 pm we’ll light Shabbat candles – it’s the day before Chanukah really begins, so (sadly) we won’t be lighting our Chanukiot (menorahs) this year.

We’ll sing Shabbat blessings and a Chanukah song. Then we’ll feast on latkes (potato pancakes), applesauce and sour cream, with veggies side dishes and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) and chocolate gelt for dessert. After our latke feast we’ll hear and share stories of the season.

My Recipe in Progress – Crazy, Easy Grain Free, Flour Free Cookies

by Dfk-b | Food

Throw 2c of cooked & well drained black beans, 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, 1 capful of flavor extract of your choice, 1/4 c shredded coconut, 1/4 to 1/2 cup low glycemic sweetener of your choice, such as coconut nectar, into a food processor. Blend until mixture forms a ball. Form into cookies. Bake at 380 degrees for 12-15 mins.

Marvel at the versatility of black beans.

Exciter Function

by spinoza | Activism

About twenty five years ago I went to see a showing of the Holocaust film, Shoah. For those who aren’t familiar, this is a ten hour documentary, normally shown in two parts consecutively, with a small meal break. The film is notably devastating in effect for its lack of gore, absent of explicit rendering of atrocity. All that unfolds hits the viewer as reverberation. The mind, and heart can and must fill in the blanks. What’s shown is verbatim testimony of the everyday execution of the tasks set before the hard working members of the newly ascendant Nazi party. Schedules, Daily Rounds, Routines of Construction and Mainenence. 

I became a student of this subject early in my adult life, and have filled too many hours with contemplation of this grave facet of history.  On one side of my lineage, all but my great-grandfather were exterminated in Poland. Those relatives never reached the camps, they were shot in front of their house, as far we know. Hard to believe that may be considered a lucky break of sorts, but so it goes.  What I’m going to relate now, in the light of this is so trivial, so minuscule, so remote as to almost be ridiculous. But for some reason it sticks in my mind as we see the daily unfolding of our incoming regime change.

VFW Lunch Specials Nov. 21st – Nov. 25th

by Not Signed In | Food

The Brattleboro VFW at 40 Black Mountain Road is open to the public for lunch. Lunch is served Mon – Fri from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Specials are only $5.50 a plate. Burgers, fries, onions rings, chicken wings, soups and sandwiches are also available.

Mon – hot dogs with homemade baked beans & cottage cheese
Tues – baked ham w/ scalloped potatoes & veg
Wed – pot roast w/ mashed potato & veg.
Thur – closed, no lunch
Fri – no lunch served

If you have more than 4 people in your group, please call ahead of time at 257-0438. Take out orders are available, and some specials sell out fast.

Vermont Cheeses Honored as Finalists for the 2017 Good Food Awards

by Not Signed In | Food

Vermont Cheese Council members chosen for commitment to Good Food Foundation standards

Randolph, VT: Five Vermont Cheesemakers were honored in San Francisco on Monday when the Good Food Awards announced its 2017 nominees for the Good Food Awards. Along with the Vermont Cheese Council members, six long time artisan food exhibitors who participate in the annual Vermont Cheesemakers Festival were honored as well.

To My Fantastic Bicycle Commuting Friends

by Not Signed In | Family

Thank you for your commitment to keeping your fossil fuel intake to a minumum. You are all awesome. We appreciate you and many of us envy you! I’ve enjoyed seeing more and more of my friends peddling around town doing errands and commuting to work. This is a great example of people working together for our collective future.

Long Distance Local Scam Calls?

by cgrotke | Questions & Answers

Recently, our caller ID has shown us calls that identify as though they come from the Bratt Chamber and Famolare, Inc, and the phone numbers listed appear as the correct 802 numbers. When answered they were long distance, foreign-sounding folks making the calls.

Anyone else getting odd long-distance calls from what appear to be local numbers and ID’s?